Wellesley, respecting a loan to Messrs. Nowlan and Shaw.

Mr. Hume then gåve notice, that on Tuesday next he would move for a copy of the special jury panel in the Court of Exchequer; and on the same day he would move for the appointment of a select committee, to consider the laws which prohibit artisans from leaving this country.

On the motion of Mr. Scarlett, the Lancaster county court bill went through a committee: the report was received, and ordered to be taken into farther consideration on Wednesday next.

Lord A. Hamilton remarked, that there were twenty-six orders of the day on the paper, and complained that one of them respecting Scotland (the sheriffs' court bill) stood for a third reading, without having been yet discussed. He hoped that it would be brought on at such an hour as to admit time for deliberation.

The Lord Advocate of Scotland said that he was ready to proceed with the bill at this moment, if other honourable gentlemen would yield to him precedence.

Mr. Huskisson moved the order of the day for the committee upon the reciprocity of duties' bill.

Mr. Robertson said, that he feared the effect of this bill would be to take away the last safeguard of their naval superiority. He knew no more efficacious way of preserving that maritime preeminence, than by levying a higher duty on the ships of those countries which could build them cheaper than the British. America could build much cheaper than they could; and France and Por tugal were also advantageously placed, in the same comparison. 1828.

He did not mean to oppose this committee; but when they went into it, he only implored them to consider seriously the state of the maritime interests of Great Britain, with a view, if not to their promotion, at least to their protection. Nothing afforded him greater pleasure than to have heard the first Lord of the Treasury (the Earl of Liverpool), at a meeting of ship-owners, in the city of London, state that it was not her insular situation which alone afforded security to Great Britain from foreign invasion, for that had been found defenceless at several periods of her earlier history; but that it was to the principle of her navigation laws she was indebted for security. The house ought, therefore, to pause before they equalized the international duties, which would deprive them of their present superior maritime advantages.

Mr. Huskisson regretted that any discussion was excited upon the bill at this moment, and, lest it should be prolonged, he would consent to postpone the committee until next Monday.

Mr. Calcraft said, that with reference to one of the dropped orders, his notice of motion for the repeal of the leather tax, he saw no chance, in the present state of the business of the horse, of reviving it in the course of the present session. He must, therefore, content himself with giving notice, that unless between this and the next session, a great alteration was made in the mode of collecting this tax, or unless it was repealed altogether, he should feel it his duty to bring, the subject early before the house.

Mr. Western postponed his motion,

K

tion, which stood for next Thursday, until the 11th of June; and until the same day he meant to defer his motion respecting the qualification of jurors. He hoped his hon. friend behind him would give him precedence on that day.

Mr. Hume consented to give precedence, and would therefore postpone his motion on the inexpediency of punishment for expressing opinions against religion, from the 11th to the 19th of June. Mr. Bankes brought up the report of the committee upon the standing order, which required a reference to a select committee previous to the introduction of any new measure on the subject of trade. The report recommended the repeal of that standing order.

Sergeant Onslow said, that he had introduced the standing order alluded to, in consequence of a similar regulation having been made in the House of Lords.

Mr. Calcraft would yield to the recommendation of the committee, although he thought such a standing order might often prove most salutary, in preventing the hasty introduction of most mischievous bills.

In pursuance of the recommendation of the committee, the standing order was rescinded.

Mr. Goulburn moved the order of the day for the house resolving itself into a committee upon the commutation of tithes bill.

Sir John Nicholl rose to enter his protest against the principle of this bill being considered as in any sense applicable to tithe property in England. He was aware that from a variety of causes there was a distinction to be drawn between tithes in Ireland and in this country. In the former a considerable

portion of the tithes formed lay property. He knew that at various times enlightened men proposed certain modifications of the tithe system in England, which they were afterwards obliged to abandon, upon finding that they were utterly impracticable. He repeated, that the state of Ireland rendered a measure upon the plan of this bill necessary; but great care should be taken to express in the preamble, that the measure was solely applicable to Ireland, and in no respect to England. The situation of the two parts of the kingdom respecting tithes was not at all parallel, but rather a contrast. He had heard objections started to some of the contemplated arrangements; but these could be better discussed in the committee. There were two principles which ought to be carefully guarded in the proposed bill. One was that the substitute for tithes in kind should be fairly and adequately computed; he did not mean that it should be fixed at the highest penny of the tithe, but upon a fair estimate between all parties. The other principle was, that the composition should keep pace with the prices of the times.

The house then resolved itself into the committee.

Mr. Goulburn moved that the preamble be postponed; and he took the opportunity of assuring the hon. and learned gentleman who had just spoken, that care should be taken to set forth that the principle of the regulation was exclusively applicable to the state of Ireland.

Several of the resolutions were read in succession, and received soine verbal amendments.

After some farther conversation

the

the 27th and 28th sections of the marriage amendment bill, and suggesting an additional clause.

The Earl of Lauderdale objected to the petition being received, as inconsistent with their lordships' regulation not to receive a petition from any individual except it complained of a specific grievance.

After a few words from the Earl of Darlington, the petition was rejected.

On the motion of the Earl of Aberdeen, the Scotch entails' bill was read the second time, and ordered to be committed on Monday se'nnight; after which his lordship proposed that it should stand over, in order that it might have the fullest consideration in the quarter which its provisions would most materially affect.

- The Marquis of Lansdown presented a petition from John Clarke, of Shipton, in Yorkshire, complaining of having been committed to hard labour in the tread-mill of the prison at Northallerton, and detained one year and forty-four weeks for want of sureties in articles of the peace exhibited against him by his wife. His lordship said though he knew there was some difference of opinion on the question of the power of the magistrates to commit to hard labour before conviction, yet he had no hesitation in saying, that in the present instance, if not illegal, it was highly inexpedient to have committed the individual to hard labour, and more particularly to that species of hard labour. Of the necessity of preserving the distinction between prisoners committed and prisoners convicted, there was no difference of opinion in any quarter. His lordship also presented a petition from the inha

bitants of Whitby, praying the house to take measures for the gradual abolition of slavery in the colonies.-Adjourned.

House of Commons, June 2.-Petitions were presented against any alteration in the Spitalfields' laws-against the slave tradefor an improvement in the line of communication between Portpatrick and Donaghadee—from Benjamin Wingrove, praying that his merit as an improver of roads should be referred to Mr. M'Adam's committee-from Thomas Joplin, praying that certain regulations might be laid upon bankers to prevent a fluctuation in the circulating medium-against any alteration in the Scotch linen laws-against the coal-meting system of London and Surrey.

Sir T. Lethbridge begged to state that at the suggestion of many able friends of the agricultural interests of the country, he was ready to withdraw his motion, which stood for Thursday next, on the state of agricultural distress. He was most happy to notice the contrast of circumstances between this time, when he abandoned his motion, and that when he gave notice of it. The state of things now afforded him a hope of a great alleviation, if not the entire extinction of that melancholy state of distress which had so recently involved a large body of those engaged in the agriculture of the country.

After a remark from Lord Folkestone, the notice of motion was accordingly withdrawn.

Lord Ebrington rose to present the petition of the freeholders and others of the county of Devon, praying for a reform in the Commons House of Parliament. He was aware that after the last deci